Search results for ""Author Harry Oldmeadow""

How should we view religions that are different from our own? In a world where misunderstandings and disagreements between cultures and faiths are commonplace, this book helps us put other faiths in context and addresses the problem of encountering conflicting religious forms.

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Black Elk (1863-1950), the Lakota holy man, is beloved by millions of readers around the world. The book Black Elk Speaks is the most widely-read Native American testimony of the last century and a key work in our understanding of American Indian traditions. In Black Elk, Lakota Visionary, Harry Oldmeadow draws on recently discovered sources and in-depth research to provide a major re-assessment of Black Elk's life and work. The author explores Black Elk's mystical visions, his controversial engagement with Catholicism, and his previously unrecognized attempts to preserve and revive ancestral Sioux beliefs and practices. Oldmeadow's lively and highly readable account also examines the controversies that have surrounded Black Elk and his collaborators, John G. Neihardt and Joseph Epes Brown. Oldmeadow judiciously explains why both Black Elk Speaks and The Sacred Pipe: Black Elk's Account of the Seven Rites of the Oglala Sioux are to be ranked amongst the most profound spiritual documents of the twentieth century. Black Elk, Lakota Visionary will command the attention of every reader who is interested in the American Indians, providing fascinating insights into their ancestral traditions prior to the reservation era, the subsequent destruction and revival of their traditional ways, and the vital lessons which the contemporary world might draw from their spiritual legacy.

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In his classic work on the subject, perennialist author Frithjof Schuon explores the vast and varied landscape that is Buddhism. Every reader interested in Buddhism from whatever angle will here find much that speaks to his or her condition. Schuon presents Buddhism not as an historical artifact of the past, but as a living spiritual force. In describing the essentials of Buddhism, he frequently makes use of comparisons with other traditions, including Western religious thought. Th e rich and diverse world of Buddhist art—from its statuary to the tea ceremony—is a subject treated with particular importance. A valuable section on Shinto, the indigenous Japanese tradition of the “way of the gods,” concludes the book.

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In this revised edition of his classic work, perennialist author Frithjof Schuon addresses diverse aspects of the religious phenomenon with his characteristic authority. In the book's first section, Schuon provides striking insights into age-old religious and philosophical controversies such as the problem of evil, predestination and free will, and the meaning of eternity in the realms of heaven and hell. In the second section, Schuon masterfully harmonizes the divergent theological claims of the three main branches of Christianity-Orthodoxy, Catholicism, and Protestantism-in the light of universal metaphysical truth. The final section contains several chapters relating to Islamic esoterism and concludes with a remarkable chapter on the spiritual substance of the Prophet of Islam. This new edition of In the Face of the Absolute features a fully revised translation from the French original and contains previously unpublished selections from Schuon's letters and other private writings. Also included are extensive editor's notes, a helpful glossary of foreign terms, and an index.

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In this new edition of his powerfully original work, Schuon covers an array of metaphysical, cosmological, and anthropological subjects. In the book's signature essay, entitled "To Have a Center," the author surveys the ambiguous phenomenon of modern genius, showing how Western humanistic society has replaced the time-honored veneration of the saint and the hero with the cult of individualistic "genius." In other notable essays, Schuon deals with the relation between intelligence and character, the distinction between historical Gnosticism and pure gnosis, the degrees and dimensions of theism, the spiritual messages of David, Shankara, and Honen, and the symbolism of Plains Indian vestments. This revised edition, containing over 65 pages of new material, features a fully revised translation from the French original as well as previously unpublished selections from Schuon's letters and other private writings. Also included are editor's notes, a glossary of foreign terms, and an index.

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Nowadays the religion of Islam, which is still relatively unknown in the West, is forcefully brought to the public's attention by the acts and threats of the "Islamic terrorists." As a result, the question is repeatedly asked: "What kind of religion is this?" The aim of this book is to argue that today traditional Christianity has nothing to fear from traditional Islam. In spite of appearances, the two ancient religions are really allies; they have common enemies and they are united in their opposition to all kinds of modern errors and immoralities, including materialism and secularism. Consequently, a true notion of Islam and indeed of every complete and uncorrupted religion, is what the present book-taken in its entirety-is all about. In surveying Islam, Stoddart provides a wealth of relevant background information and an illuminating treatise on traditional art highlighting the often neglected role of art and beauty in spirituality. The text is accompanied by a map and seven colour illustrations.

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